Keith Richards' Micawber project

[KisekaeVIM]

I got an ash Tele body for someone but it was too heavy so I couldn't use it for his project.
Rather than selling it on eBay, I will make a Micawber-inspired guitar for myself. (I hope it will be lighter than a LesPaul)

I love Rolling Stones but I don't know much about the Micawber so I am collecting information. It doesn't have to be a super-crazy-accurate replica, I'm okay as long as it looks like the Micawber.

When Keith lent his guitar to Met Museum, the humbucker was installed in the correct orientation. I wonder why..?? Was it his joke to confuse people?

 

[davo8411]

I look forward to your build. When I went to the Met, Micawber was “on tour”.

 

[TunedupFlat]

The grain of yours is gonna look pretty dang close to Micawber it think when finished, if you go with a transparent color. And you could always go with the smugglers route to cut down a little weight if needs be. Looking forward to the project as it develops!

 

[Fenderdad1950]

Interesting, keep us posted with lots of pics.

 

[teletail]

If you do a google search, someone has a site about his Micawber build that describes every detail.

 

[CodeBlue]

The Keith Shrine-Keith Richards Guitars

Keith Richards Guitars

members.tripod.com

The above link is a great place to start & Keith strings his G tuning Telecasters:
11/15/18/30/42.
Best of luck to ya!

 

[KisekaeVIM]

Thank you for the information! I am checking all.

Yes. I noticed the bass-side grain is very close to the original only if I could move it little bit toward the center.

I put the trussrod access route like a 1953 body. The gap will be visible so I can't omit this part.

Tomorrow I will drill the pin-router index holes on the back.

I don't have a 1/8" dowel rod so I must make one. It seems the plug doesn't have to be
a face grain ash. I'll just use whatever wood in similar color I find and make two end grain plugs.

 

[transmetro]

What a great project, and a good looking piece of wood to work with.

Are you going to relic it? All that wear between the neck humbucker and the strap button where he strums, is a bit much for me.

But I look forward to seeing your project mature, good luck.

 

[KisekaeVIM]

>Are you going to relic it?

Yes I will.

Actually, relic is my main focus and, as for this guitar, I don't care about the humbucker tone and wiring circuit. Even though it has single and humbucker I don't think this is a one-does-all swiss army knife guitar. Like all of you here, I love Tele. As long as I can get one good "The Tele" tone, I'm happy.

If I am only talking about artist replica, I've done Jeff Beck Tele, SRV, and Blackie before. Here are some pics from my old projects.

(oh no, if i look at my old SRV body now, it's no good...)

Making an artist replica guitar is like copying an art work. It's fun.

 

[KisekaeVIM]

Got a bakelite pickguard, control plate and MIM gold bridge. The MIM is not a brass bridge. If I don't like its tone I will upgrade to the Gotoh bridge. I now have both bakelite and plastic pickguard but I can't tell the difference. Didn't worth the investment.

Oh NOoo! While I was routing the humbucker cavity, of course the thin wall between the PU cavity and neckpocket torn out. I knew it could happen but I cut corners and didn't put any supportive wood around that area.

Not a big deal. To fix it, I cut that broken part straight..

...and put a new thin ash wall.

The Micawber's humbucker installation is very unusual.

It is upside down, the PU is very close to the neck, and it seems the PU mount ring is
directly screwed to the wood. Why Keith and his guitar tech decided to go this way?

 

[Midgetje94]

I Did a Keef “Inspired build. He used a old Gibson PAF in the neck and apparently a pickup from a lap steel in the bridge. I went with a Duncan Seth Lover PAF, and a Duncan Jerry Donahue. At one point a tech put the humbucker in backwards. So I did so. I didn’t want a “copy” of Micawber. But Keith is my first idol. And who got me into music seriously. So being a tele guy. It felt right to do

 

[KisekaeVIM]

>I Did a Keef “Inspired build.

Beautiful guitar!

Besides this relic project, I want a 'clean' HS Tele with a mini humbucker and vintage 3-way saddles bridge.

---
Of course the parts I got didn't lined up precisely. But I won't call it an issue as it is pretty common for partscaster projects. In this case, the control cavity is visible inside the metal plate's screw hole.

If this were a regular Tele project, I would just move the pickguard up 2mm or so but I didn't want to widen the gap between the bridge plate and the pickguard as it is already wider than the original's.

So I made a little piece of wood ..

..and glued it to the cavity.

 

[PCollen]

I got an ash Tele body for someone but it was too heavy so I couldn't use it for his project.
Rather than selling it on eBay, I will make a Micawber-inspired guitar for myself. (I hope it will be lighter than a LesPaul)

View attachment 985585
I love Rolling Stones but I don't know much about the Micawber so I am collecting information. It doesn't have to be a super-crazy-accurate replica, I'm okay as long as it looks like the Micawber.


View attachment 985586
When Keith lent his guitar to Met Museum, the humbucker was installed in the correct orientation. I wonder why..?? Was it his joke to confuse people?

Mt guess is that he pulled the Mic's pickups and installed others he cared less about.....I would have.

 

[Mur]

Totally cool project . . bet it'll sound good too.

 

[KisekaeVIM]

I thought god created all mount rings equal but the two rings in my drawer were not the same.

Using the smaller one as the template and cut the pickguard.

> I now have both bakelite and plastic pickguard but I can't tell the difference.

I found a difference! These two materials smell different when cutting with a router.
If you need to authenticate an early vintage Tele, simply cut and destroy the pickguard to check the smell. You'll know if it was a real one or a fake.

 

[Kevin Wolfe]

Excellent work. Your attention to detail makes for some pretty natural looking aging/wear.

 

[Dana Rudd]

Good info and work detail so far. Will keep watching this thread. Thanks for sharing.

 

[KisekaeVIM]

The dowel plugs at the back side may or may not be visible after the finish and relic.
Since it's not hard to imitate, I'll just put the two plugs.

Drilled period correct 1/8" holes at the period correct location. Then put period NOT correct 'chopsticks' from a Chinese take-out restaurant. It should add some Asian flavor to the tone.

okay, good enough for me.

 

[Fretting out]

I don’t know if you talked about pickups (I suck at reading..)

But Seymour Duncan makes a reproduction of a fender champ lap steel pickup which I believe is close to the original

Or.. I may be wrong

Sweet work!

 

[RodeoTex]

Way cool project and you have a great eye for detail.
I've always thought that someone should start a Micawber replica thread, but I think you've already won that.